Not just once, dude!

this is my favorite opening as black

You know, it all depends on how a player wants to annotate. If it is for instruction, be sure to focus on key points, and avoid unnecessary variations at all costs. If it is for show, then focus on your attitude during the game, and cram in all sorts of variations to show off. If for entertainment/just to do it, telling a story is certainly fine.

i tend to do d6...

d6 seems better as it protects the pawn on c5. I will try this now instead of bring out either knights.

Although it is highly theoretical, the Open lines lead to a very tactical sort of game - a slugfest. The Closed lines are more positional, slower, and place less pressure upon Black in particular. Yet it was very popular with at least one World Champion, Vassily Smyslov, who ruled the mid-1950s.

Boris Spassky also liked the closed Sicilian.

Black's 4th move, striking immediately at the centre, seizing control of the d4-square, and challenging White for possession of the centre.

Means that Nd6 is possible (not necessarily good), and Bd6 is it not possible for black, for instance, nor Qc7 (a good place for the queen), etc. If black kicks the N with a6, it is known the attack white can build on the black squares around there. d6 is another good move for black, because it adds to e6 the protecton of the queen, balancing white's power on e6. e6 can be "easily" attacked by white and not so easily defended by black. But it is playable, of course.

I think this line partially illustrates both points.

? better is d6

What I mean is that the principle of not moving pieces many times in the opening before the others is a seperate, specific principle. Those types of principles are generally useless, since they are hard to remember and only allow you to find seperate, inconsistent moves, if you play the. The base principles of chess, like the principle of greatest activity covers all this and lets you find the best moves easily.

Sometimes you can draw an ending a pawn behind - even win - but overall, as you will find over time, it is a losing proposition. By that I mean, if you are behind in material entering endgame, you will lose much more often than not.

After 8.e5 what does 8...Qe7 lead to?

Not much as white simply develops with something like Be and the threat is back on and blacks queen is even more misplaced than it would have been on d8

Yes. 8.e5 Qe7 9.Be2 seems sufficient.

Actually, there's a bit more to it than that. It really does force the advanced White Bishop back to d2, after which (as I mention in my next note), 9...Qc5 asks White whether he wants Queens on or off. That White does not in fact retire the bishop to d2 does not alter the fact that the move was 'forced'. The consequences of not playing that move are severe: loss of a piece for no compensation, and hence the very likely - almost certain - loss of the game.

this is a great move! This game is getting exciting.

The loss of a whole piece, for nothing, ought to lead to the loss of the game for White. No guarantees, of course - there's nothing to stop Black from overlooking the piece, or, having found it, losing his way later on. But with with best play between (hypothetically) evenly matched players a piece is generally too big a handicap. It would have been a different story, of course, had White got some intangible advantages to offset the loss - some gain in time and space, say.

By stopping BxN. The g5-Bishop, having been captured, would have been able no longer to take the Knight.

I was expecting to see Q xg5.

Having missed ...Qxg5 for one move, White has missed it for two. Asleep at the wheel, maybe?

takes the free piece.

I tend to think of the pieces in terms of what they can do, and where they can go. If you look at White's Q and minor pieces, they are 'out there' and doing something, more or less. The Q and B are active pieces, as are Black's Q and N. I set a big store by mobility - the capacity for a piece to move. That, by the way, is the Queen's strength: its mobility compared with other pieces and pawns. But I also tend to use the word 'mobilize' synonymously with 'develop' - in the sense of a nation's army mobilizing at the outset of war.

In terms of my previous comment in response to lkarp's question, here is Black making sure to optimise the mobility of his pieces. Before bringing his Q-side into action, he improves the mobility of his DSB.

nice move get the queen to retreat!

You might want to read my note again. I was speaking of the d-file, not the Queen specifically. Now ask yourself: what are rooks good at?

Not the database. You can request a 'computer analysis' of any of your games. Whatever the software GK uses for this analysis I call it an engine. I gather this is a fairly standard appellation.

The GK engine's strength for basic members is not even as good as my official rating. However, if you are a gold member, then the strength may be worth relying on. For example, in my game I annotated "Full Chess System..." I playe a move ...Qc7. The computer went to say that my move was a mistake. I knew it was best based on my general understanding, and was shocked that I could be mistaken. However, my opponent rattled off the computer's best line, and I made a pawn sac the computer did not consider. Once again playing the computer's best line, I got a clear advantage in all lines. Using a more advanced engine will help avoid such innaccuracies.

Maybe I should of signed up more a membership while it was discounted! I can only analyse my own games once a month I believe. I would play Be6 and be ready for the exchange of bishops.